Hi - can anyone help please - is there a card on the market which
enables capture of S-video (or composite Hi8) - AND with firewire input
?

I have lots of Analog video on Hi8 tapes which I want to edit on PC -
so need a capture device.
I'm planning to upgrade to digital camcorder, so will soon need
firewire input.

So I wondered if there is a one-card-does-all solution ?

Current camcorder is Sony, PC is Dell desktop, with only USB input, no
other capture connections.

Thanks in advance
Pete

I've got a Leadtek winfast DV2000 here.

I'm very happy with it for the price - it takes s-video, and rgb, and
stero audio inputs. It has a UKTV tuner as well as an FM tuner plus
all software to act as a PVR (along with ULead videostudio 7SE and
ULead DVD writing software). There's also a remote (with batteries)
and a remote IR receiver with a bit of velcro.

Finally, it comes with a TI chipset which allows 3 firewire inputs.
One socket is supplied on the backplane of the card (a 6 pin), and if
you need more it comes with a separate backplane (just a blanking
plate really) that has a connector going to the DV2000 motherboard.
That supplies another 2 firewire sockets - a 6 pin and a 4 pin.

PC World component centre have them for £45 :
http://www.pcwcomponentcentre.co.uk/invt/dv2000
http://www.leadtek.com.tw/eng/tv_tun...6&pronameid=92

You'll probably want a machine running at least 2ghz if you want to
use it reliably as a full screen capture PVR application. I mostly use
it for the firewire inputs though ;-)

Cheers - Neil

On 15 Mar 2005 05:36:21 -0800, "PeteD" wrote:

Hi - can anyone help please - is there a card on the market which
enables capture of S-video (or composite Hi8) - AND with firewire input
?

I have lots of Analog video on Hi8 tapes which I want to edit on PC -
so need a capture device.
I'm planning to upgrade to digital camcorder, so will soon need
firewire input.

So I wondered if there is a one-card-does-all solution ?

Current camcorder is Sony, PC is Dell desktop, with only USB input, no
other capture connections.

Thanks in advance
Pete

PeteD wrote:
Hi - can anyone help please - is there a card on the market which
enables capture of S-video (or composite Hi8) - AND with firewire input
?

I have lots of Analog video on Hi8 tapes which I want to edit on PC -
so need a capture device.
I'm planning to upgrade to digital camcorder, so will soon need
firewire input.

So I wondered if there is a one-card-does-all solution ?

Current camcorder is Sony, PC is Dell desktop, with only USB input, no
other capture connections.

Thanks in advance
Pete

One solution is to make sure you buy a digital camcorder with an
analogue pass through. I've the one on our Canon 600i and it works fine.
(You have to take the tape out to do it.) Simple firewire cards are
so cheap. If you don't need a TV bit this may be enough.

Cheers
Margaret

Remove "giggling" if replying by email

Thanks for the replies, when you say you have to take the tape out to
do it - what do you mean ?
Can you play a Hi8 tape in your Digital camcorder, and it is output via
firewire as digital ?

I've also found a couple of V-Stream products which may do the trick -
dunno if anyone has any experience of them ??

Thanks
Pete

Thanks again for the help.
The Canon MV750i for 350gbp is looking good - has all the features I
think I may need in the future, plus has analog-in and analog to
digital convertor & pass-through.

One last question please - does an S-video cable aslo carry audio ? Or
do you need separate audio cables ?

My only experience of S-video is with the Pinnacle DC10+ card, which
had no audio input - and I always had use extra cables from camera to
sound card

Cheers
Pete

"PeteD" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks again for the help.
The Canon MV750i for 350gbp is looking good - has all the features I
think I may need in the future, plus has analog-in and analog to
digital convertor & pass-through.

One last question please - does an S-video cable aslo carry audio ? Or
do you need separate audio cables ?

My only experience of S-video is with the Pinnacle DC10+ card, which
had no audio input - and I always had use extra cables from camera to
sound card

Cheers
Pete

This is where things get tricky. Cameras tend to have a unique socket for
the analogue in out, which comes with a breakout lead containing both audio
and video. If your lucky both cameras will use a mini-jacksocket, but I
would'n't gurenntee that each socket would be wired the same allowing a
multi-connection jackplug to jackplug lead to work. In which case you will
need to phono to phono inline connectors, and s-video as well. You join the
cables from each manufacturer together with the inline connectors, and then
plug each end into the correct camera.

Update - have just been into Jessops to play with a Canon 750i, and the
guy said to enable Hi8 to PC via a 750i, you have to first record the
Hi8 onto MiniDV, then output to PC.

Is this correct ? I'd assumed this could be done real-time, stil lwith
the 750i between the Hi8 & PC, but with no MiniDV tape required ??

And John, yes - I would need to do some work on the AV & audio cables

Thanks
Pete